


collateral damage

by imposterhuman



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Aftermath, BAMF Tony Stark, Collateral Damage, Fuck you Steve Rogers, Gen, Not Steve Friendly, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Tony Stark Has A Heart, tony is done with steve's shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-28 11:26:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16722453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imposterhuman/pseuds/imposterhuman
Summary: after the fall of shield, who took care of the agents jeopardized by the release of all of the shield data?not steve rogers, thats for damn sureEDIT: wow thanks to all the team cap stans who gave me shit in the comments section! comments are now moderated





	collateral damage

**Author's Note:**

> gah felt like writing something angsty and i think this worked
> 
> im still not over the sheer stupidity of this plan??? like what the fuck guys i thought you were smart

Tony was exhausted. 

 

He had spent the past week without sleep, barely even eating, trying to save as many people as he could from the fall of SHIELD. Natasha’s releasing of  _ all  _ of SHIELD’s files had left hundreds of agents without cover in the field. And, of course, she and Captain Righteous had neglected to deal with their issue, not even coming to Tony about it so he could fix it for them. No, Tony had to find out from a frantic alert from Maria Hill, begging him to save her agents.

 

Since then, Tony had been flying around the world, rescuing agents from deep cover and dropping them off at American embassies worldwide. JARVIS had been doing the same with unmanned suits, both of them working in tandem to get people out. But sometimes, he was too late. He rescued corpses, too, bringing the dead home to their families. 

 

And in the week he had been doing all of this, Tony hadn’t heard a peep from any other Avenger. 

 

“Deploy the suits, J,” Tony said tiredly, identifying another batch of agents who needed rescuing. “I’m knee deep in encryption, so don’t deploy mine if you can spare it, I might find something.”

 

“As you say, Sir,” JARVIS replied. In the background, Tony could hear the sounds of repulsors firing up. “If I may, Sir, Agent Hill is close to three of the identified agents, maybe you should send her instead?”

 

Tony scrubbed a hand over his face. “Good plan, J,” he said. “Call Hill for me.”

 

“Hill,” Maria Hill responded tersely. “Where am I headed?”

 

“Two miles from your current position, there should be three agents. I’m sending you the details now,” Tony said. There was no time for pleasantries, as they both knew.

 

“Are you tracking me?” Hill asked, but there was no suspicion in her voice, just curiosity.

 

“Of course,” Tony replied. “Can’t have you getting lost on me.”

 

“I got the details, I’ll confirm when I have the agents,” she said, hanging up.

 

Tony threw himself back into encrypting the files, hacking servers that had downloaded them and deleting them (which was pretty illegal, yes, but Tony was a little more concerned with the agents’ safety than his own legal standing. Besides, he had a kick ass legal department). Of course, that’s when the door to his workshop opened.

 

“Tony,” Steve Rogers greeted him. “Can we talk? Are you busy?”

 

Tony didn’t even look up to shoot an an incredulous glare, too deep into a sensitive server (he really didn’t want to set off any internal alarms. Normally, he’d have JARVIS do it, but almost all of his processing capabilities were being used for search and rescue). 

 

“Busy, come back never,” Tony muttered. “Call my PA, set up an appointment.”

 

“Tony…” Steve pleaded. “I’ve had a rough week, I just want to talk to a friend.”

 

“Got it!” Tony cried softly, having successfully retrieved the information and seen another potentially accessible agent. “I really don’t have time right now. J, suit.”

 

“JARVIS, belay that,” Steve said angrily. “Why won’t you talk to me? Listen, I’m sorry we didn’t call you in, we just didn't know who to trust.”

 

The Iron Man suit came in and encased Tony. “You trusted a stranger over your teammate, Cap, but I’m the one who has to clean up your mess. Make an appointment if you want to talk.” With that, he flew out at top speed.

 

\---

 

“That’s everyone?” Tony asked, exhausted. He was sitting with Hill in a hospital waiting room, waiting to hear the status of the last batch they rescued. They were in bad shape, having been tortured for information before Tony could get to them.

 

“That’s everyone,” Hill replied grimly. “All field agents are accounted for, one way or another.” She didn’t say that they accounted for their  _ corpses.  _ She didn’t have to.

 

Tony yawned widely. “So what now? I can handle employment, if they want to come work for SI. Pepper’s been on me about hiring better security, and who better than secret agents?”

 

“Most of the ones I’ve talked to have expressed a desire to work for you,” she admitted. “Myself included.”

 

That woke Tony right up. “I suppose we can find a place for you in HR,” he joked, accepting the overture of peace. “It’s no spy work, but you do get dental.”

 

Hill laughed, voice hoarse from all of the screaming and shouting she had done over the week. “I don’t know how to say thank you for this,” she said, seriousness in her warm tone.

 

“Then don’t,” Tony replied simply. “Don’t say it. Bring me coffee and we’ll call it even.”

 

“Have you talked to either of them yet?” Hill asked tiredly. Even without clarifying, Tony knew who she was talking about. 

 

“Cap stopped in the other day, wanting to catch up. I told him to make an appointment. Itsy Bitsy hasn’t shown,” Tony said bitterly. “A thank you from them wouldn’t be remiss, honestly.”

 

Hill was silent for a second, considering. “Did he make an appointment?”

 

That startled a laugh out of Tony. “Nothing on the calendar, no,” he said with a smile (he was surprised he  _ could  _ smile, so soon after seeing so many dead). 

 

“Dr. Stark? Agent Hill?” a doctor poked her head into the waiting room. “They’re stable. Two are awake and request your presence, Agent Hill.”

 

“Go,” Tony motioned. I have to get back to encryption, anyway. J’s been running it, but it’s better to have both of us on it. No rest for the wicked and all that.”

 

Maria Hill gave him a look, eyes suspiciously shiny. “You, Tony, are anything but wicked.”

 

\---

 

When Tony got back to the Tower, Steve Rogers was waiting on the floor in front of his lab.

 

“What the fuck?” Tony called as he marched in. “Didn’t I tell you to make an appointment?”

 

“I’m your friend, Tony,” Steve replied mulishly. “I don’t need to make an appointment to see you.”

 

Tony pulled up a screen, not even looking at Steve. “You do, because I’m amazingly busy. Funny how jobs work like that.”

 

“Tony,” Steve said, looking nervous. “I have to tell you something important.”

 

That got Tony’s attention. He didn’t say,  _ now you ask for my help? After I’ve cleaned up your goddamn mess?,  _ but it was a close thing. 

 

“Fine,” Tony said, barely looking up. “But I’m going to multitask. I have to encrypt these files.”

 

Steve let out a breath. “This is really hard, you know? But I have to tell you,” he stalled. “The Winter Soldier, he, um, he’s Bucky. My Bucky.”

 

“And this concerns me how?” Tony cocked an eyebrow.

 

“I need your help to find him,” Steve said. “I need your tech, I don’t think anything else can find a HYDRA-trained assassin.”

 

Tony’s hands stilled on the screen. “I’m sorry, what?” he said, voice dangerously low. “You come in here, asking for favors, after insinuating that I’m not trustworthy?  _ Now  _ you want my help?”

 

Steve gulped. “Tony, I’m sorry. We should’ve called. But he’s my friend-”

 

“Fuck you, Rogers,” Tony’s voice was ice. “Your sorries won’t bring back the hundred and change dead agents because you didn’t call me in. Your sorries won’t console their families.” Tony made a few motions with is hands, and portraits of young agents filled the lab. “These are the ones I couldn’t save, because  _ you didn’t know who to trust.  _ I have been working nonstop since Natasha released the fucking files, I’ve slept maybe five hours all week, because you didn’t call me. Their blood is on your hands, dear captain, all these agents. Because you didn’t call your resident tech expert who could’ve sifted through the HYDRA files in minutes.” He laughed darkly. “That’s not even counting the people you  _ killed  _ by dropping three helicarriers. Did you know I designed that tech? I know Fury told you. I could have landed them safely without leaving the lab. But did you call? No. You chose to kill people instead. So I owe you nothing, no favors.”

 

Steve looked horrified, but stuck to his rhetoric. “Collateral damage is unavoidable, sometimes, Tony, you know that better than anyone else.”

 

“Excuse me?” Tony looked up in surprise. “People are not collateral! And also, fuck you. I always take every single measure to save every person I can. Sometimes it doesn’t work, but I don’t brush it off as  _ collateral damage.  _ I do what I can to help the people I hurt. Do you?”

 

Steve looked like he didn’t absorb a single word. “Tony, it was the only way. HYDRA was everywhere, and-”

 

“Get the fuck out of my lab,” Tony said calmly. “If you think, or ever thought, that I am HYDRA, get the fuck out of my lab.”

 

“But I need your help!” Steve sounded like a whiny child.

 

Tony violently motioned to all of the agents’ pictures still displayed. “So did they.”

**Author's Note:**

> howd i do?
> 
> i honestly think this is one of the dumbest things mcu steve does, at any point in any movie. who the hell sees three giant helicarriers and goes "awesome lets crash them over a populated area" instead of "HOLY FUCK LETS CALL SOMEONE WHO KNOWS HOW TO HANDLE TECHNOLOGY"
> 
> and dont even get me started on natasha releasing all the files. that ruined her character for me, honestly, because it showed such a blatant disregard for human lives (especially the lives of her own side! like wtf nat)
> 
> comments and kudos make me happy :)


End file.
